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fxfymn

Pedigreed Bulldog
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Everything posted by fxfymn

  1. I should have known it was an American L by the position of the lift cylinders. Missed that one! That's a beautiful tractor you restored. Brings back memories of some of the rigs I knew when I was a kid. Have you been in contact with, or do you belong to, any of the PA SPAAMFAA clubs? There maybe someone in the club who has knowledge of the rig's history or of someone who worked with the rig. I lucked out when I bought my 52 because a member of our SPAAMFAA club had actually ridden on the rig when it was in Richmond, VA. He knows exactly what it should look like and where it served, etc. Did the tractors came from the local Mack franchise or were they Mack built? If they were converted by the PFD shop you may have some luck locating someone who worked at the Mack dealer or the PFD shop that knows something about them. If you haven't done so yet you may want to get in contact with the Philly Fire Museum Fireman's Hall. I would also check to see if Philly has a retiree's organization. Most FD's do. If they do, they probably meet on a regular basis for lunch or breakfast. That would be a good place to try to hook up with someone who worked at the company you are looking for and they would probably be more amenable to talk about the old days than the folks who are currently on the job. Unfortunately, most career firefighters consider the rig to be just a ride to the fire and do not give it much thought. Rigs and duty assignments tend to change regularly. For most of the folks on the job the only reason to remember a particular rig is if it was exceptionally fast, slow, or unreliable. The unreliable ones stick with you because you get tired of going to get, and switch over to, a reserve rig.
  2. It's not unusual for a municipality to only track rolling stock by their assigned number. I know that's how we did it. Is there something specific you need for the tiller or are you just looking for general information about the tiller trucks Philly had? Philadelphia, like most large cities, would place new tractors under old trailers, resulting in some rather bizzare match ups. As you are probably aware Mack did not make aerial ladders, using mostly Maxim ladders in the early years and various others such as Thiabault, Grove, and LTI later. Your trailer looks like a Seagrave. Is it? If so, it probably did not come from Mack, but was created by the PFD shops. Apparently back in the day Philadelphia took very good care of their rigs and they disposed of them before they were totally shot as I have seen their older rigs placed in service by other cities. One of our club members has a 1955 Maxim TT that was a Philly truck before it was sold to Colonial Heights, VA where it was used for quite a while. Co. 22 in PGCO, MD also ran an old Philly ladder lovingly refered to as the "Philly Flyer". Therefore, if you are looking for ex-Philadelphia trucks you may want to check around for rigs marked by other cities for that look like they are from Philly.
  3. Got any current pictures? The rig doesn't have rear fenders per se, just liners. By fenders do you mean the rear cabinets?
  4. I posted a link to a 52 505A in this forum that is the Washington DC Craigs List. You may want to check it out. I run across rigs on occasion that aren't widely advertised, so if you'd let me know what your loking for I'll keep my eye out for you. I retired after 32 years with Fairfax County, VA.
  5. Thanks. I am trying to keep track of what the old Macks are bringing these days.
  6. WOW! I meant to check the auction at the end and I forgot. Any chance you can find out what the actual bid ended at?
  7. Sounds like a bad ground somewhere in the trailer to truck connection. Spent a lot of time working with an old timer who always told me "When you can't find out what's wrong it's always something simple. Everyone looks for the worst thing, not the simplest."
  8. I'd post this on as many truck related sites such as ATHS, SPAAMFA, and the Brockway Club as you can think of. I don't think any collector/restorer would buy this if they knew it was stolen. You need to get the word out as much as possible. I guess you better plan on going to the Allentown and Hershey flea markets as well. Good luck and I'll keep my eye out in VA for you.
  9. Saw this posted on Washington DC's CL. I looked at this rig a couple of years ago. It's complete, but it has sat outside for a while now so the paint, chrome, etc. is rough. It is a very unique body with full compartments front to back and top to bottom. If I remember correctly the rig was originally from Amityville, NY. 1952 MACK 505A
  10. Mike, Welcome aboard. Go to the antique trucks forum on this site for a database of B models under the sticky "B Model Registry". There is a list of B model fire apparatus there by SN and model.
  11. Welcome aboard. This is a great board with all sorts of helpful advice. Have you joined SPAAMFA yet? It's the organization that is dedficated to preserving old fire trucks. They have a classified section where you can advertise for the needed parts and you can check for any parts that are for sale. Depending on the state you are in there may be a local chapter of SPAAMFA as well. Someone in the chapter might be able to help you out. The CF's are still pretty common, so you will probably be able to locate what you need eventually. You may want to try to locate a similar model through this board or SPAAMFA and than have the fenders duplicated to match. It would be helpful if you would post some pictures of your rig here along with the pertinant biographical information about the rig and your fire company.
  12. The following ad is posted in SPAAMFAA's web site under For Sale Other. Note the B Model exhaust system. (I don't know if this Mack B Model or Seagrave) We recently purchased the City of Cincinnati's Seagrave inventory and are now selling many older parts all of these parts are new. We have axles, springs, around 200 spring pins, 75 hangers, 75-100 U-bolts, Windshields, bumpers still in the shipping crates, complete door still in shipping crate with supports, new tail boards with frames, 12 cozy wing assemblies complete, 90-100 ladder cables, 175-200 ladder pulleys, ladder rungs and covers, 25-30 pump gears and shafts and yokes, boxes of tie rod ends, suspension parts, steering arms, Lots of Pressure governor stuff, Lots of aerialscope stuff, Gauges lots of them all types, sheaves, Tons of window cranks and door handles, grab handles lots of windshield wiper parts, brake drums, b model exhaust new in packing. I have part numbers for everything I have there are a ton of parts I finally got it all sorted out if you need anything feel free to give me a call 513-616-5389 or email or email. Most of this stuff is 60s 70s 80s 90s. If you need anything let me know. Justin Barkey PDF list (11-20-10) SPAAMFAA Link
  13. I'd start a separate post about painting/cleaning the chassis. There is a poster on the general forums here named "Rob" who apparently has a lot of body and paint experience. You may try PMing him for advice as well. One thing I do know about painting is that it will cost you a lot more than you expect if you use good quality paint. One member of our club spent $500.00 per gallon for the paint he used on his American LaFrance frame and he used 3 gallons on it!
  14. Engine 2, Did you get it to move? Keep us posted on what you have tried.
  15. From looking at the picture of your rig on your post it appears the pump shift is located at the pump panel. Try placing the pump shift lever in the neutral position and see if that frees it up. If so the problem is in the transfer case or the transmission. If the lever is frozen look under the pump panel and you will see the linkage to the transfer case which you can (gently) try to move with a lever or other prying tool.
  16. Great rig! I'm jealous. I love the old rigs, especially the open cabs, but they were built for working, not driving. I've skipped several parades and meets because of thunderstorms or it just being too damned hot to drive an open cab rig to the event. Besides, I swore that when we got rid of our open cab stuff on the job I wouldn't ever ride in another one in bad weather!
  17. Greetings; Although I joined the forum in 2008 I guess I never did the introduction so here goes: I'm a retired firefighter who had 32 years on the job with Fairfax County, VA. I belong to ATHS, SPAAMFA, and ODHFS. I developed my interest in trucks from my Dad and from living on a street in Massachusetts where a quarry was located. I got to watch all sorts of dump trucks drive by each day where I would learn to identify the different makes and models. When I was very young my Grandfather sold gravel off of his farm. We would stand at the top of the pit road and the drivers would stop to let me ride down into the pit with them and than back up where I would wait for the next truck to come along. As I recall they were all Autocars. My Dad was a call firefighter in Ashland, MA and he took me to the fire house quite frequently where they had a 1945 Mack L85. I took my first ride in that Mack at age 4 and I've never gotten over the infection I developed that day. One of my treasures is an old photo of my Dad climbing up into that Mack. My Dad owned a garage in the mid fifties where his best friend brought his B model to work on it. He had a series of B models and finally an H model that he used to haul freight as an O/O from Boston to Buffalo, NY. I was always climbing around those trucks and I fondly remember riding in the sleeper of the H when he would bring a trailer out from Boston in preperation for his haul to Buffalo. My next Mack experience came in high school when my sister dated a guy who drove for Wellesley Trucking in Wellesley, MA. They had a couple of B-81s, a B-67, and a couple of L's as I recall. The rigs were black with red trim and well decked out with chrome and pin striping. The company owner insisted that the drivers keep the rigs very clean and I would occasionally go to the shop to help him clean his truck on Saturdays. I always wondered what happened to those rigs as they were absolutely spectacular. Unfortunately Mack fire trucks were not big in the DC area, and we only had two in service while I was on the job; a 1968 C model and a 1972 CF AerialScope, one of the first made with tandem axles. After lusting after several different Macks I finally bought a 1952 Type 75A which started its' life in the City of Richmond, VA. I found the rig through this site. (Thanks CFEST for the tip!) Like most fire trucks it's in real good shape and has low mileage. It has been garage stored for all of its life and has been re-painted since its retirement. I will be re-doing the brakes and going through the drive train in the next few weeks. Beyond that it needs to have most of the bright work re-chromed, which I'll be getting to over the next year. Great site! Keep up the great work.
  18. Lincoln 225S; A 220 volt wire feed gas shield rig. I love it, but I was a bit surprised when I was at the welding supply house where I bought it this week and I did not see a Lincoln on the floor. I asked the counter guy why and he told me that Lincoln had gotten too expensive in relation to Miller and that Lincoln's customer service left a lot to be desired in comparison to Millers. Not trying to start a brand war, just reporting one sales person's opinion. One item of consideration might be whether you ever think you will use a spool gun to do aluminum wire. I have noticed that the Miller guns are less expensive and seem more readily available from discounters than the Lincoln's are. Keep your eye on Craigs list. Machines like mine that are not digital come up occasionally for less than a $1000.00 in my neck of the woods.
  19. Here is a link to pictures from the 2010 show: Gerhart Mack Show
  20. fxfymn

    Bell

    Here is the link to the ad: http://indianapolis.craigslist.org/clt/2021985399.html
  21. Gary, Nice rig. Have you joined the ODHFS yet? If not go to their web site (ODHFS.org) and join now so you can attend the annual conference this month in Richmond. Carl
  22. Here's the link to an auction for a CF Aerialscope. http://www.govdeals.com/eas/itmDisplay.cfm...&acctID=913 It appears to be in pretty solid condition and the price is definetly right!
  23. Pictures of the rigs at the Mack Trucktoberfest held at the Mack Customer Center and Museum, Allentown, PA October 26, 27, 2012.
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